There's no doubt about it. Modern methods of cultivation and
livestock rearing have given us bigger and better-shaped vegetables and
better-looking meat, but what's happened to the taste?

So what do
you do when you want to try and get a bit more taste back into your
food? Do what our ancestors have been doing for hundreds of years by
making regular use of herbs for cooking. The right choice of herbs can
make the blandest of dishes tempting and exciting - even more so when
they are fresh from your own herb garden.

photo credit: mythirtyspot.com

The Cook's Herb Garden Plan
This
article is about the first step in developing your own cook's herb
garden - creating a plan. Once created your herb garden will provide you
with an easily accessible supply of all the herbs you want in generous
quantities. Don't worry if you have never grown herbs before. It's
really not difficult providing you develop a plan in the way I have
described below.

I don't intend to tell you everything about herb
gardening in this article, but if you follow the steps I have suggested
you'll have a good design and plan that will lay a foundation for
cultivating all the plants you need.

Four Steps to Create Your Herb Garden Plan1. Choose Your Herbs
The
first thing you need to do is decide which herbs you want to grow. If
you don't spend some time thinking about this you'll end up growing some
you don't need, and leave out some of the others that are essentials
for your cooking.

There are 100's of herbs to choose from that you
could include in your plan. Some thrive in sunny spots and well-drained
soil and others prefer shade and damp conditions. A good rule is to
choose a sunny spot. However, you need to know about the ideal
conditions for each of your chosen herbs so that you can position them
correctly in the garden you'll develop once you have produced your plan.

Start
choosing your herbs by writing down a list of the ones that you are
familiar with or that are commonly used in cooking. In your list write
the names first, but leave space to also write down the type (annual or
perennial), the best position (sunny, shade) and best soil conditions
(well-drained, moist etc). Also leave space to include the height that
each plant will grow to.

Now extend your list with other herbs.
Consider choosing from the following herbs that are frequently used in
cooking - sage, tarragon, marjoram, basil, lemon thyme, fennel, chives,
parsley, rosemary, bay, garlic, mint and thyme.

You'll need to do
some research to complete your list, but this is a very important step
in developing your plan. When your list is finished it should include
the names of twelve or so herbs and the additional information I
described above.

2. Choose Location & Decide on a Herb Garden Design
Ideally
your herb garden should be near the kitchen so that it's easy to
harvest the herbs fresh when you need them. A good size for the garden
is 4ft x 6ft. This should enable you to plant all the herbs on your
list, including a couple of bushy perennials. Try and choose a spot
which is south facing. If some of the herbs you have chosen need a shady
spot plan to use the larger plants such as bay, tarragon, and rosemary
to shade them.

The simplest herb garden design to choose is a
rectangle, but also think about other designs such as the "island" and
the raised bed. Or think about creating a long herb garden boarder (good
if you have a sunny wall in your garden). Choosing your design can be
lots of fun. Here again, try and do some research on different designs
in your local library or on the internet.

photo credit: inspirationgreen.com

3. Check Soil Conditions
After
you have chosen a position for your herb garden you must check on the
soil conditions. Although some herbs prefer other conditions, a rich,
well-dug, well drained soil is ideal. You may need to dig in plenty of
organic matter to enrich your soil, but make sure that it doesn't
contain any weeds, especially perennial ones. If it does, you'll risk
pulling up your herbs when you try to remove the weeds once they begin
to grow again.

4. Draw Out Your Herb Garden Design
Now
you have chosen your plants and your herb garden design, draw a diagram
of your garden on paper (graph paper if you have any). Draw it out to
scale. Make one foot of the garden equivalent to two inches on your
paper.

Now use some different colored paper to cut out rough
circles to represent your herbs when they are fully grown. These circles
should have a diameter equivalent to the height each plant will
eventually grow (use the same scale of one foot to two inches). You may
want to grow more than one of some types of herbs (e.g. sage and basil),
so allow space for these as well. You should only need one each of the
larger herbs such as rosemary and bay.

Put the cut circles onto
your scaled paper diagram and move them around until you have good
positions for all your herbs. Some people also take into account the
color of the flowers that the plants will produce, but I suggest you
avoid this complication. Once you have gone through one growing season
you can easily move your herbs for the following year (but don't keep
moving the perennial herbs).

When you have created your herb
garden design, you'll know exactly where to plant your herbs. A good tip
is to use some colored sand to create full-size circles on the ground
in positions exactly corresponding to those in your herb garden design.
This will make sure you plant your herbs in exactly the right spots with
the right amount of space around them to allow for growth. Don't forget
to try and take into account the needs of the herbs that want a little
more shade.

Summary
Your plan will enable you create
an attractive herb garden that contains all the plants you need for your
cooking. After your first year herb gardening you will probably want to
change some of the annual herbs you chose in your original plan. That's
quite OK, that's all part of the fun of growing herbs. You may also
want to enhance the appearance of your herb garden with statues or
ornaments so that you end up with a garden of herbs which looks good,
smells good and improves your cooking!

This article by Adam Gilpin has been produced to support his
extensive program of on-line activities to promote a wider interest in
herb gardening. Adam has been an enthusiastic gardener for many years.
He is involved in many aspects of gardening, but has a particularly
strong interest in herb gardening.